Oh to be young and foolish again. Or not. Being young has its good and bad sides. The good: youth, energy, physical fitness, and an inconsequential mind of death. The bad: inexperience, naivety of the world, reckless, and an inconsequential mind to death. In this installment of the ABCs of encouragement with the #BloggiteBits Campaign, I am going to help you tap into the good parts of Young D.E.S.I.R.E. to bring some of the wonders of youth back into your life: Devoted time, Eager to please, Special feelings, Intense reaction, Reverent acts, & Enthusiastic love.

Devoted time: Think back, Dear Bloggites, to your youth (for some not too long ago for others it may seem like a lifetime ago). Are you there? Remember when you could devote your time to whatever you were currently interested in? Be it school, family, relationships, friendships, you were able to provide total devoted time to the interest. To tap back into your young desire for life, you just have to give your all into whatever activity you are interested in. If you have a busy life (like most of us), look over your schedule and find a time each day to devote to the passion of choice you are currently involved in. You will find that allowing yourself time to chase your dreams and passions, you will have a much lighter and stronger desire to embrace life.

Eager to please:Remember a moment in your youth where you were smitten with the puppy love that only the young experience? That eager to please mentality found during the “puppy love” stage in relationships is actually a good thing. Busy lives (like we all have) tend to prevent you from really getting outside yourself and into the world of others. To tap back into your young desire and eagerness to please others, all you have to do is respond to someone in a positive way when they ask you for help or even a simple question. Being eager to please does not mean you allow yourself to be walked all over or taken advantage of by others, it just means you show an eagerness to make someone’s day a little better by providing a simple act of kindness or service. You will find your outlook on life begin to show a positive view on your day to day activities.

Special feelings: The giddiness, the joy, the butterflies, and anticipation of seeing your special someone you had a crush on when you were younger-sweet feelings, indeed! Most people do not feel that carefree giddiness of emotions as adults, but I challenge you to reach deep inside your soul and reawaken that special feeling again. To tap back into your special feelings, you just need to remind yourself of the good qualities of the person or people you are interacting with daily. There is a reason you have the people you have in your life and I bet it is because of some special quality that caused your feelings to attach to each person individually. Make an effort to focus on the special qualities of each person you are blessed to come into contact with. Life is a gift to all of us and you will find that your view of people will be less tarnished when you actively look for the special quality of each person.

Intense reaction:“Shock! Thrill! Oh MY!” fills your senses throughout your body as a younger you feels that first intense reaction to someone or something. Oh, beloved youth of yesteryear, wherever have you gone. Nothing beats the thrill of feeling such strong, overpowering emotions that an intense reaction provides a person. I am not just referencing a physical attraction sensation, I am referencing the sensations that course through our mind and bodies when dealing with people or situations. Intense reactions can be a wide range of feelings. No matter what those feelings were when you were younger, they had an impact in your life. To tap back into your wide range of intense reactions, you just need to open up your emotional floodgate and feel each sensation. I am sure the emotional sensations that show up are the ones we usually stomp down as we grow older: awe, joy, giddiness, appreciation, love, hope…all these positive emotions are sadly repressed as a person grows up and has to “act like an adult” in life. Embrace those long forgotten intense reactions and be prepared to embrace a freer-feeling you.

Reverent acts: Reverent acts sound so serious, however, a reverent act as a young child is that of a child believing their parents are all powerful and nothing can defeat them. I am sure you can think back on a time when you witnessed something spectacular that a parent or grandparent did. That feeling of overwhelming love and admiration washed over you and you looked at the person who caused those emotions as if they were a fairy tale hero come to life. The pure intellectual honesty you felt as a child is where you felt the emotions stirred by the reverent acts you witnessed. To tap back into your reverent acts mentality, you have to open yourself up to the pure intellectual honesty and begin to see all the everyday heroes inside the people you interact with daily.

Enthusiastic love:Enthusiastic love was the giddy joy you felt as a child when a person you were enamored with talked to you. Did you know, Dear Bloggites, that there is a mature kind of enthusiastic love? Well there is. To tap back into your mature enthusiastic love, you just have to add a little rose-colored glasses to your mind’s eye when dealing with others. The mature enthusiastic love is the ability to embrace someone else’s success as if it was your own. I am a firm believer that we should always build each person we engage with up to help them reach the next level of them on their journey in life.